Immediate Family

About Sampsigeramus I, Priest-King of Emesa

He was King of Emesa (64-43 BCE). He was an Aramaic chieftain who allied himself to the last Greek Seleucid monarchs of Syria. The Seleucid Empire had become weak state and its kings appealed to Rome to solve the kingdom's crises. At the request of Pompey, Sampsiceramus captured and killed the second last Seleucid King Antiochus XIII Asiaticus in 64 BCE. From Sampsiceramus, the founding member, the Emesan royal family were known as the Sampsiceramids.